A Secret To Be Told
by AthenaSeiki
Summary: Set after G Revolution. Tyson and the entire gang are in anticipation of the announcement of the next world tourney after the relaunch of the BBA. But before that, they fall into a whole new, surreal adventure that may change the course of the rest of their lives...
1. A day of peace?

a/n: Hello, readers! This is my first fanfic - hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. (if I did, it would still be running, no matter how old the Bladebreakers were)

Now, on with the story!

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 1: A day of peace...?

It was a bright, sunny day four months after the fall of BEGA, and the G-Revolutions were enjoying a day of relaxation by the bridge across the river, where the BBA had restarted its operations in a humble little house, with beydishes out front where children were taught how to beyblade by professional volunteers.

Tyson and Daichi were snoring on the grassy slope while Ray, Max, Hilary and Kenny lay (or sat, in Kenny's case,as he was with his laptop) above them. Kai was lying a little way off, a blade of grass in his mouth and his eyes closed.

"It's so nice to get a day of peace like this, huh guys?" said Ray, stretching out.

"Yeah, it's great," said Max with a smile. "Things are finally going back to normal – I'm sure Mr. Dickenson will get the BBA up and running again even before the year is out."

"Yes and who knows? We'll probably have a tournament soon as well," said Kenny.

"Agh! No more tournaments!" said Hilary exasperatedly." You guys need to relax a bit!"

"We are relaxing, Hilary!" laughed Max.

"Hmph. You better!" she said threateningly.

"…Hey – what's that?" Ray's sharp eyes spotted something unusual looking floating down the river, glinting in the late afternoon sun.

"… It looks like some sort of stone," said Max, squinting at the object.

"Um…aren't stones supposed to _sink_ in water?" asked Hilary.

Max and Ray, curiosity piqued, got up to see if they could get the object from the water. Kai opened one eye to observe them, sitting up slightly.

The weird stone got caught on a branch rooted in the river bed, causing it to change course and drift towards their side of the riverbank. Ray reached into the water and pulled it out.

"What is it?' asked Kenny, coming over to them along with Hilary.

"It looks like some sort of hieroglyphic," Kai had appeared beside them and was looking over Ray's shoulder to study the strange engravings on the stone tablet.

"Shouldn't something like that be in a museum and not floating down a river?" asked Max, confused.

Tyson stirred just then and noticed his friends gathered at the water's edge.

"Hey, you guys!" he called "What's up?"

"We found some weird ancient stone in the river!" called back Ray.

"Huh?" Tyson walked over to them, looking at the object in Ray's hands. "What in the world-"

Precisely at that moment, the characters engraved on the stone began to shimmer and glow.

Ray dropped the stone.

'What-what's going on!?" Hilary yelped in alarm, as the boys stared at the stone in shock. Suddenly, there was a strange rushing noise and a darkness swooped over them. The boys yelled in panic and Hilary screamed – but as soon as it had come, the darkness was gone.

They were all standing in the same spot, only now, the stone tablet seemed to have vanished.

"Wha-what just happened?" asked Max shakily, clearly unnerved.

"I-" Ray turned to his left and his eyes widened with shock. "The BBA shack! It's gone!"

The other spun around and stared in horror. There were several beydishes there, but the small house that was being used as the BBA headquarters was gone.

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Kenny, looking up at the blue sky."Why is it daytime!?" Hadn't the sun been setting just a few minutes before?

A sudden thought occurred to Tyson and he whipped around. He gasped in horror.

"DAICHI! He's gone!"

Sure enough, the redhead was nowhere to be seen.

Hilary clutched at Tyson's arm."Wha-what's happening? What are we going to do!?"

"Calm down," said Kai. He maintained a stoic expression, but on the inside, he was freaking out as well. "First things first, we need to go and take a look around and try to find some people. We can get an idea about what exactly happened then."

It made sense. The six of them climbed up the slope and headed into the town.

"This - all looks so different!" exclaimed Hilary.

There were some new buildings, and some had disappeared completely - being replaced by small parks and more modern looking buildings.

 _What the hell is going on?_ thought Kai as they tried to get their bearings.

"Argh - I don't even know where we are!" growled Tyson in frustration, clenching his fists.

"Are we - still in BeyCity?" asked Max.

"I have no idea. You think that stone somehow got us transported somewhere else?" asked Ray.

"How is that even possible?" asked Hilary.

"Guys!" Kenny exclaimed, causing the others to turn around to see him struggling to use his laptop as he walked. "My computer seems to have picked up some unusual force fields when that happened!" He stopped and adjusted the device in the crook of his arm. "You're not going to believe this - it actually picked up some strange energy signals similar to bit-beast activity!"

"Bit-beasts?" asked Kai, frowning.

"Yes, though the readings aren't exactly the same - so I can't tell for sure..."

"If that's the case, do you think our bit-beasts could get us home?" asked Tyson, pulling out his Dragoon beyblade.

"I doubt that will work, Tyson," said Ray.

"It's worth a shot," responded the boy. He gripped his blade tightly. "Hey, Dragoon, buddy? We could really use your help right now..."

Nothing happened.

"Great," mumbled Tyson, pocketing the blade.

"Hey, look! We could ask that lady!" said Hilary, pointing to a nearby newspaper retail kiosk that was just opening for the day.

She ran upto the woman as the others followed behind her.

"Excuse me, ma'am!" Hilary called. "We're - um - actually rather lost...could you please tell us where we are?"

"Why, you're in BeyCity, little missy," said the middle-aged woman, looking at Hilary and the boys in surprise.

"Wha-?" Tyson gaped in astonishment "Are you sure? 'coz this doesn't look like BeyCity to me!"

The woman gave him a strange look. "Look here, young man, I've been living in this city for a good few years now, and I can assure you that this _is_ _B_ eyCity."

Tyson opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off by Kai placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face the older boy and was surprised the grim, foreboding expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Kai?" asked Tyson, once they had moved away from the newspaper-selling lady. The others looked at him worriedly as well. In response, he handed them a newspaper.

"The BeyCity Times," read Hilary. "Guess we still _are_ in BeyCity then."

"Read the date," said Kai tersely.

They stared at him, then read the printed date.

There was a collective gasp as they all stared at the small print-

 _6th August, 2009._

"But - but -" spluttered Kenny "that's six years from now!"

"No way! There's got to be some mistake!" gasped Max.

"There is no mistake, Max," said Kai seriously. "This explains it. That stone took us six years ahead in time."

* * *

a/n: There we have it! First chapter done and dusted! Things have only just begun, so stay tuned! All reviews are much appreciated :)


	2. Looking for answers

...And here's chapter two! I actually probably have over thirty chapters of this story down in my head, but have to type it all onto the comp.-_-.

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Beyblade

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 2: Looking for answers

"This is impossible!" Hilary leaned against a post to keep her balance. "I must be dreaming!"

Tyson snorted. "Tell me, Hil, is it possible for ALL of us to have the same dream at once?"

"It's more of a possibility than time-travelling! I would actually have been less sceptical if that thing was some weird teleportation device! But _time-travel!?_ " retorted Hilary.

"Calm down, Hilary," Ray tried to soothe her. "It could have been worse – we could have ended up a hundred – or maybe even a thousand years in the future!"

"Not helping, Ray," snapped Hilary, glaring at him.

"So – what does this mean? Did we just skip six years of our lives?" asked Max "Or are our future selves around?"

"There's only one way to find out," said Tyson. "We need to try and find our homes."

"How do you know you still live here?" interjected Kai, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Don't be a pessimist, Kai! We have to start somewhere, right?" said Tyson, annoyed. "Or don't you want to get back home?"

Kai sent him a hard glare for the tone he was taking with him, but said nothing.

"Come on, maybe we can find my grandpa's dojo."

The group began wandering around again, trying to locate familiar landmarks. Finally, Tyson managed to find a few familiar looking streets and they reached his house.

"It looks like it's been renovated, huh?" said Max, placing a hand on the open gate.

Tyson eyed the house. It was still clearly recognisable and familiar, but the house had been expanded a bit; new quarters added – and the garden had a different variety of foliage – more flowers, less shrubbery.

"Should-should we go in?" asked Tyson, suddenly hesitant now that they were here.

"Well. It _is_ your house…"

Tyson stepped into the compound hesitantly, the rest of the group following, casting an eye around for any people.

"Should we call out or something?" asked Hilary, unsure of what to do.

Ray shrugged. "Worth a shot…."

"Hello? Anybody there?" Max raised his voice and called out. They waited tentatively for a few seconds. There was no answer.

"Guess no one's home," said Kenny.

"Yeah, look – the front door's locked," said Tyson, pointing to said door as he noticed.

"Hey! What's this?" Hilary bent down to pick up a stuffed toy that had been dropped by the front walkway."

"It- it looks like Dragoon, doesn't it?" muttered Tyson in surprise, studying the blue plush lizard-like dragon, complete with a set of long grey claws (plush, of course).

"I think it _is_ supposed to be Dragoon," said Max, taking the toy from Hilary and examining it.

Ray raised an eyebrow "So Tyson probably _does_ still live here."

Max grinned and waved the plush doll in Tyson's face. "With his Dragoon plushie," causing Tyson to snatch it from him, irritated.

"Look who's talking! You're the one who sleeps with that deformed sea turtle toy at night!"

"Take that back about Mr. Snuggles, Tyson!"

"Cut it out," snapped Kai. "And besides, don't you think Tyson would be too old to be playing with stuff toys?" he said – then with a slight smirk- "But of course, I could be wrong, since this _is_ Tyson we're talking about"- Tyson scowled at him – "though it looks more like some little kid's toy to me, judging by the way it was dropped out here."

"So you're saying…." Ray gave a snort of laughter "maybe Tyson has a kid?"

Hilary gave a squeal of laughter at this, while Tyson turned red and started spluttering incoherently, whereas Max and Kenny looked highly amused.

"Ya mean – Tyson's a _daddy?_ "laughed Max. "I can't even imagine that!"

"Hey! It's not necessarily true!" said Tyson furiously "In fact, it ISN'T true…. I probably moved outta here and whoever lives here now must have a kid who's a fan of beyblading! That's all!"

"Oh, no! That CAN'T be it!" cried Hilary "You said once before that your grandpa always wanted this dojo to be run by the Granger family and that you intended to follow his wishes, so you've _got_ to be staying here!"

"Nooo! I'm too young to have a kid!" wailed Tyson, falling dramatically to his knees.

"Stop overreacting, Tyson," sighed Kai "You would be about twenty-two now – that's old enough to be a parent. Now stop being an idiot and throwing tantrums – it isn't abnormal to have children."

"Yeah!? Then, if I have a kid, it's possible that you have one too, right!?" countered Tyson.

Kai's expression stiffened. "I highly doubt that."

"Oh, of course, that's right – Mr. Sourpuss probably hates kids! He's too much of a tough guy to have a family, isn't he?"

Tyson, would you shut up already!?" hissed Hilary, sensing that Tyson was starting to really get on Kai's nerves. "We have other things to worry about!"

"Fine," snapped Tyson, imitating Kai and crossing his arms as they left the dojo.

"….What now?" asked Kenny.

...

Daichi yawned, rubbing his eyes as he woke up. He blinked and looked around. _Where did everyone go? They better not have ditched him again..._

It was beginning to get dark. He walked down the slope to check if they were by the beydishes. Nope. He turned as something in the sky glinted in the corner of his eye.

"What the-" He never finished his sentence, as something invisible seemed to rush by him,and suddenly everything went dark.

* * *

Cliffhangerrr!

The big question is- _who killed Daichi?_

Sorry, I have a terrible sense of humour...

Anyway, rate and review please!

( I also apologise for the so far corny plot...I just couldn't think of how to get them to the future wthout a time machine...)


	3. A Meeting

Happy new year, everyone!

Here's chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I do not- and sadly, never will- own Beyblade...

* * *

 _Previously ..._

 _He turned as something glinted in the sky in the corner of his vision._

" _What the-" He never finished his sentence, as something invisible rushed by him and suddenly everything went dark._

 _..._

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 3: A meeting

"Wh-what just happened!?" yelped Daichi, finding himself standing exactly where he was- only now it was a different time of the day, and none of the others were still in sight.

Daichi ran through town, panicking. It was like he was in BeyCity – but wasn't. This was too freaky! He was brought to a halt when his sharp ears picked up on a news telecast running on some display TVs in a shop window.

"- a fabulous, sunny day; one of the best of 2009!" the weatherman was saying.

"Two- two thousand nine!?" cried Daichi. "That dude's crazy! – It's 2003 now, isn't it!?" He called to a man walking past him. "Hey, mister, what year is it?"

The man stared at him as if he were nuts.

"2009," he answered, then walked off, muttering "Weird kid."

Daichi wanted to think that guy was pulling his leg, but he'd seemed serious.

"What is going on!?" he wailed loudly, drawing attention from some passers-by. "Where are Tyson and the others!?" Suddenly, the boy's stomach growled.

He sweatdropped. "Well, can't figure this out on an empty stomach."

...

Meanwhile, the gang had been looking for Max's dad's hobby shop, which was the closest place to Tyson's.

"It's- it's not here!" gasped Max, as they looked up and down the street for the familiar store and attached apartment.

"Maybe- we're looking in the wrong street?" ventured Ray, looking at Max worriedly as he frantically ran up and down the road.

"No! This is the right one – I'm sure of it!" said Max. He suddenly stopped in his tracks beside Tyson, his shoulders dropping. "If it's not here…. it's probably been demolished, hasn't it?" he asked dejectedly.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry, Max." Surprisingly, Kai was the one to say this. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the younger boy looking at his crestfallen face.

Max looked down at the ground sadly.

"TYSON!? MAX!? KENNY!?" The others wheeled around at the familiar voice.

"DAICHI!?" shouted Tyson, his eyes widening in astonishment as he saw the small redhead sprinting towards them, not slowing down till he collided with Tyson and Max, knocking both of them over.

"I thought I'd never see you all again!" sobbed Daichi, clinging to a rather alarmed Tyson and Max.

"Hey, it's-it's okay," said Max, awkwardly patting Daichi on the head.

"Yeah, chill out, little dude," said Tyson with a grin, gently pushing Daichi away so they could stand.

"How'd you get here, Daichi?" asked Hilary curiously.

"I don't know! I woke up and you all were missing, and suddenly as I was looking around, there was this big _WOOSH_ , it went all dark and suddenly I was here, and then I ran around and found out that it was 2009, and I was like that's not possible, but-"

"Alright, Daichi! We get the point." said Ray.

"It appears that we were somehow taken ahead in time," explained Kenny, as Daichi's jaw dropped at the confirmation. "We got here when we found a strange hieroglyphic stone."

"But how do we get back!?" demanded Daichi.

"We don't know yet…." said Max.

Tyson suddenly noticed the large knapsack filled with food on Daichi's shoulder.

"Hey, Daichi! Where did ya get all that food from?"

"Oh, this?" Daichi, surprisingly, blushed and started twiddling his thumbs, not looking at them.

"You didn't steal it, did you?" gasped Hilary.

"What!? NO! I would never steal anything!" yelled Daichi. "A nice, pretty lady gave it to me for helping her carry her shopping!"

He clamped his hands over his mouth as the words slipped out, his face turning beet red.

Tyson snorted with laughter. "Hahaha! So that's it, huh? Is that why you're blushing?"

"Aww, does wittle Daichi have a crush?" giggled Hilary.

"No! She was just really pretty, okay!" protested Daichi, but this only served to make Max, Kenny and Ray laugh as well. Only Kai didn't look amused.

 _These idiots…_ he thought, irritated. _Standing around and laughing when we have a serious matter on our hands…._

"Besides – she's already married! She had a baby with her!" Daichi was saying, trying to clear himself.

"Ooh, you pervy kid!" said Hilary, knocking Daichi on the head and causing more sniggers.

"Enough!" Kai finally snapped. Everyone turned to him, a little alarmed by his angry tone.

"If you childish clowns are done laughing your heads off "- he paid no heed to their scowls and affronted looks – "we have more important things to worry about than Daichi's little crush. If she can help us find a way back, then that's great, but otherwise I suggest we move on," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Daichi scowled angrily at Kai, feeling insulted. "You know what, maybe she _could_ help us!" he cried.

The others looked sceptical, but Kai looked downright pissed off.

"And how is that?" he asked frostily, arching an eyebrow at the redhead.

"How would I know? But it's better than nothing, right? I don't see _you_ coming up with any ideas, Mr. Smartypants!" he shouted.

"Fine. Do what you want." snapped Kai – and with that, he turned on his heel and walked away with a swish of his long scarf.

"Kai! Where are you going!?" Tyson tried to run after him, but Ray held him back.

"Let him go," said Ray. "He'll come back when he cools off."

"But he shouldn't be wandering about like that! We don't know this place!" protested Hilary.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about Kai. He can take care of himself."

"Daichi! Where are _you_ running off to!?" called Kenny as the redhead began sprinting down the road in the opposite direction.

"To find that lady, of course!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Obsessive, much?" muttered Hilary.

"Kai may be able to handle things himself, but leaving Daichi without supervision..." Max trailed off.

Kenny sighed. "Guess have no choice but to follow him."

...

"Where the heck did that little monkey-boy run off to!? I swear, we're gonna have to put a leash on him!" said Tyson as they hunted for Daichi.

"There he is!" cried Ray, pointing further down the road.

"You guys sure took your own sweet time!" said Daichi as they caught up with him.

"Daichi, how do you even know here that lady went?" demanded Hilary.

"Well, when I was helping her, her driver came up and started taking the bags, and I heard her tell him that she had to stop at the baby shop next, " explained Daichi, as he scanned the area. "If we're lucky, she might still be there - I remember seeing a baby store around here..."

The others began looking around as well, and after a few moments Hilary said, "Hey, look! Here's the baby shop!" while pointing it out.

The others crowded around the window, peering into the shop.

"There she is! That's her!" cried Daichi, pointing, and the others' gaze followed his finger to look at the woman he had been talking about.

* * *

a/n: OC introduction! I admit, this chapter ends rather abruptly, but if I continued, it would have ended up being twice as long as the others.

Stay tuned! Things are starting to get interesting...!


	4. Surprise, surprise!

Hello again, readers!

I would, at this point, like to compliment all other authors for their infinite patience in typing out stories :D

And here's chapter 4!

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 4: Surprise, surprise!

They looked in the direction Daichi was pointing, and their gaze landed on a woman, with long golden hair that cascaded in waves down her shoulders and back. She was wearing a sleeveless knee-length white summer dress and, as Daichi had said, had a small baby bundled in a blue blanket in her arms.

"Looks like she's coming out," said Ray, as she turned towards the door. They turned as she stepped out of the door, a few feet away from them.

She seemed busy with the baby, and didn't notice them till Daichi called out to her.

"Hey, miss!" He went up to her as she looked up.

"Oh, it's you again!" she said with a smile.

"Whoa, Daichi wasn't kidding when he said she was pretty," whispered Max to Hilary, who nodded.

The woman had pretty features, flawless skin, a graceful figure and startlingly beautiful blue-grey eyes. Her blonde hair shimmered like molten gold in the sunlight.

"Miss, I was wondering if you could help us out; we'd really appreciate it"- Daichi was saying.

Tyson sniggered. "Since when did Daichi become so polite and well-mannered?" he said, as Daichi continued to talk to her in a flattering manner.

Hilary shook her head. "That kid…"

Kenny sweatdropped nervously while looking around "Oh, I wish Daichi would stop trying to chat her up like that….cute girls like her usually have scary boyfriends…... or husbands, in this case…"

"…..my friends and I, um, this might sound weird…"Daichi faltered, unsure how to continue, and waved at his friends for help. They stepped forward, all slightly nervous.

"Uh, hi! We – er – actually have a bit of a problem…." began Tyson, but stopped when the lady narrowed her eyes at them, a tiny frown on her face.

"Um – did we do something wrong?" asked Max.

"Oh- no, sorry about that – it's just…. You guys look a _lot_ like some friends of mine when they were in their teens….." she said, stepping forward to look at them, a slightly curious look on her face.

The baby squirmed in her arms.

They all exchanged looks. _Maybe she knows us in the future?_

"Uh, actually…er – miss…..you see, the thing is…" Tyson fidgeted, struggling to explain their predicament without sounding like he was completely off his rocker. "We...uh, we – darnit! Look, we're not sure how but- this-ancient-stone-tablet-thingy-we-picked-up-while-it-was-floating-down- the-river-transported-us-six-years-into-the-future-and-now-we-have-no-idea-what's-going-on-or-how-to-get-back, and we really, REALLY need some help!" He said it all in a rushed, single breath, exhaling once he finished.

The lady stepped back, eyeing them suspiciously.

"We're not crazy!" Daichi yelped, jumping in front of Tyson "You've gotta believe us; we're telling the truth! Him"- he pointed at Tyson –"and him" - pointing at Kenny – "and me, are the beyblading world champions! The BBA Revolution!"

"Daichi! Stop acting like an idiot – you're making it worse!" yelled Tyson, as all the others simultaneously face-palmed.

"Don't call me an idiot, Tyson!" shouted Daichi, shaking his fist at the world champ.

"Crazy kids," said the lady, turning away and beginning to walk off.

"Wait! Please!" Hilary ran up to her, blocking her path. "We're telling the truth! My name is Hilary Tachibana, and those guys are Tyson Granger, Daichi Sumeragi, Kenny Saien, Max Tate and Ray Kon! We're not crazy and we're not lying! We really need help to figure out what's going on!" she said desperately.

The lady studied her face, seemingly trying to decide whether she was being honest or not.

"Alright," she said finally, turning back to the others, who had managed to break Tyson and Daichi apart and were now watching her anxiously. "If you really _are_ Tyson, Max, Daichi, Kenny, Ray and Hilary, then you're going to have to prove it. Show me your beyblades."

The boys hesitated, looking at each other.

"Go on, do it!" said Hilary. "She's not going to try and steal your bit-beasts like those Psykick creeps!"

The lady arched an eyebrow at her comment, but turned her attention back to the boys as they produced their beyblades.

She frowned as she leaned forward to study them.

"They're real…." She gasped, looking up at the boys in shock. "Strata Dragoon, Driger, Draciel…"

" 'Course they are," said Tyson, slightly offended, as she examined Dragoon. The baby gurgled and tried to grab Tyson's blade with its tiny hand.

"Now, sweetie, don't be naughty; you remember what happened the last time you tried something like that" she chided.

She straightened up and looked at all of them again. "I still can't believe this…."

"Uh, well, now that you know we're the real deal… do you mind telling us your name, and how you know us?" asked Ray. "I'm pretty sure you do, since you recognised us and all of our beyblades so quickly."

The lady smirked. "Of course. You're all friends, like I said."

"Madam," A well-dressed chauffeur came upto them, bowing to the lady. "If you are ready to leave? I shall take your shopping bags."

"Yes, thank you," she replied, and the guy picked up the bags and began taking them to a posh black limousine.

"Ah, pardon me, madam, but the master just called at the house and said that he has an urgent meeting to attend, and so he shall not be able to come home early today."

The lady looked disappointed. "Okay."

The chauffeur bowed again and left.

The teenagers exchanged looks, but she turned back to them, a slightly amused smile on her face.

"I apologise for the interruption," she said. "As to how I know you – I'm not sure if we've already met in your time. Has the BBA restarted its tournaments after the BEGA incident?"

They shook their heads.

"So we haven't met yet. We'll meet at the first tournament held after the relaunch of the BBA."

"You're a blader?" asked Max, Ray, Daichi and Tyson together.

She smiled. "Used to be. I still have my beyblade and bit-chip, of course."

"Cool! You have a bit-beast?" asked Daichi enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I do. Anyway, enough about me. You lot have a big problem," Her expression turned serious. "We should discuss that first. You can come along with me to my house, and I think I should call the others – yourselves from this time, I mean."

"We're gonna meet ourselves!? Wicked!" exclaimed Daichi with a grin.

"I wonder what I look like now…" mused Hilary out loud.

"Um – aren't we all forgetting something?" said Kenny.

Tyson slapped a palm to his forehead. "Of course! We forgot about the old sourpuss! He's probably still sulking around the alleys somewhere!"

"Kai?" The lady asked in surprise. "He's here too?"

"Yeah – he got irritated with Daichi and just ditched us!"

"Does he have a cell phone?" she asked.

"No," said Hilary "How will he find us if we go to your house?"

"Oh, don't worry about that; I have a feeling he'll show up there eventually," she said, mystifying the teens. "I'll tell the others to keep an eye out for him on their way here too, just in case. Come on." She began walking towards the limo, indicating for them to follow.

"Hey, miss, we never did get your name," said Max once they were all seated in the car.

She smiled, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"It's Alexandra," She paused. "Alexandra Hiwatari."

* * *

...Hehe. Some of you might have seen that coming (the limo was probably a give away).

Anyway, looks like Kenny was right!

Rate and review, please!


	5. What the-

Hello, hello everyone!

I was able to read the reviews only yesterday - till then I was able to see the story had 5 reviews, but couldn't read them.

A big thank you to purple dranzer, Indigo Jupiter and PK Styles! I am glad you like the story so far, and hope I can keep you entertained with it.

And, Daichi does not actually die, as you can see... I was just kidding...hehe (feeling a little sheepish)

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade (sniff...can I at least have Maxie?)

So, without any further delay...chapter 5!

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 5: What the-

There was a shocked silence in the car as all of them – barring an oblivious Daichi – gaped at the pretty lady with their mouths hanging open.

"Hi-Hi- Hiwatari?" stammered Ray finally.

Max's mouth was hanging open in a perfect, comical 'O', while Hilary had clapped her hands to her mouth, her eyes as wide as saucers. Tyson looked like he was going to pass out from mental overload, with Kenny looking like he was going to beat him to it.

Alexandra started cracking up at their reactions, while Daichi frowned. "What's the big deal?" he asked, looking at everyone in confusion.

"Her surname… is Hiwatari…." whispered Hilary, slowly lowering her hands. "That- that must mean….."

"What!? I don't get it! Hurry up and tell me already!" cried Daichi impatiently, only to be whacked on the head by Tyson, who seemed to have recovered from his mental overload.

"She's Kai's wife, you idiot!" he shouted.

"WHAAAT!?" Daichi yelped, jumping up and banging his head against the roof. "OW! That's not possible!" he yelled, rubbing his head.

"Oh? Why not?" asked Alexandra in an amused tone, rocking the baby, who had started sniffling at all the racket.

"Wait a minute," said Max, finding his voice as his eyes fell on the blue bundle. "That means…..that – that baby is…."

"Uh huh. This is Kai's and my son, Gou."

"WAAH! SO CUTE!" squealed Hilary.

Tyson's jaw nearly hit the floor as he stared at the baby, Ray was starting to feel dizzy with all this un-Kai like information his brain was being forced to process, while Max, Kenny and Daichi were staring at the baby as if they had just been told that he was a Martian.

"Can I see him? Can I, please, please, PLEASE!?" begged Hilary.

Alexandra smiled again. "Sure," She held the baby out a little as Hilary sat beside her.

"Oh, my gosh! He's so small and cute!" squealed Hilary softly, clapping her hands together in delight. "Aww – and he looks so much like Kai!"

The boys' imagination reached its end while trying to imagine a cute, miniature version of Kai, so they all leaned forward to take a closer look at the baby.

"What are you talking about? He doesn't look like Kai to me!" said Daichi, unable to see any similarity between the tiny, peaceful looking, sleepy baby and their stoic, most-of-the-time-glaring-and-scowling friend.

"You're such a numbskull, Daichi! He's just a little baby – you need to look more closely!" scolded Hilary.

"Hey – I think I see the resemblance!" said Max "His face _does_ kinda resemble Kai's – he's got the same nose!"

The baby opened his eyes curiously at all the attention, making Hilary squeal in delight again.

"Wow! His eyes are just like Kai's!" said Ray in astonishment as the baby boy looked up at him with big amethyst eyes, surprised at all the strange new people surrounding him.

"How old is he, Alexandra?" asked Kenny.

"He's two months old."

"Wow! He's – he's so _little_!" said Daichi in wonder, clearly amazed that someone could be so young.

Ray laughed. "You know, Daichi, you were once that small too….."

In the midst of the conversation, they had pulled into the wide driveway of a large, sprawling manor house, stopping in front of the massive oak front doors.

"Woah! This is _Kai's_ house!?" exclaimed Daichi as they got out of the car. "It's HUGE!"

"You can say that again," said Hilary.

The other four, having known about Kai's wealthy family business that was run by his evil grandfather, were much less surprised, though impressed nonetheless.

The door was opened by a young maidservant. "Good afternoon, ma'am," she said. "I trust your day went well?"

"It was fine, thank you, Yui," said Alexandra as they stepped into the house. "Could you please have some snacks and refreshments brought to the sitting room for our guests?"

"Right away," she replied. "Also, ma'am, Mrs. Kon had called – she said she would be paying a visit half an hour from now."

Alexandra nodded.

As they followed her to the living room, Hilary asked – "Um, Alexandra? Did she just say _Mrs. Kon_ had called?"

"Yes," said Alexandra. "She said half an hour, but she'll probably be here any minute."

" – you don't mean… as in Ray's wife?" asked Tyson cheekily, nudging Ray in the side as his friend turned red.

"Yeah," she replied, as they entered the large living room and she told them to have a seat.

"So, who does Ray marry!? Do we know her now?" asked Hilary excitedly.

"She -" Alexandra was interrupted by the room's door swinging open.

"Alex!" cried a pink-haired young lady in delight, striding into the room, holding a small magenta-haired baby girl.

"Mariah!" Alexandra smiled, getting up to greet her.

"MARIAH!?" The teenagers chorused together.

"I knew it!" said Hilary and Kenny at the same time, while Tyson gave a low wolf-whistle and Kenny patted Ray on the back in congratulation, the latter having turned brick-red.

"Hey! What's all this!?" Mariah turned to the teenagers, her golden, cat-like eyes clearly expressing her bewilderment at the sight in front of her.

"Uh, yeah – about that…..I was just about to call all of you, but since you're here…we have a situation."

* * *

a/n: In case you're wondering, Daichi doesn't know Kai's surname, that's why he doesn't make the connection.

Remember, people, R&R!


	6. An interlude of sorts

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 6: An interlude of sorts

After Alexandra, with the help of Hilary, Max, Tyson, Kenny and Daichi (Ray was still too embarrassed to say anything) had filled Mariah in on the situation – during which time the teens had hungrily devoured the snacks laid out for them – the pinkette studied all of them in fascination.

"Wow! It's like going back in time when I look at all of you!" she exclaimed softly. Her eyes fixed on Ray and she smiled coyly, making him blush even more.

"Mariah?" Hilary piped up. "Um – is that little girl"-

"Yep! This is my baby, Rin!" she said proudly. The baby girl had Mariah's pink hair and golden, feline eyes. The tips of her tiny, pointed canines were visible – typical of the White Tiger clan. She looked like a little clone of her mother.

"Wow, she's such a cutie!" exclaimed Hilary as Rin smiled brightly at her.

"She is, isn't she?" said Mariah fondly, ruffling Rin's hair and causing the baby to giggle. "She'll be nine months old next week!"

Ray stared at the little girl in amazement. She was his daughter….he got married to Mariah…. _If this day gets any weirder, my head's gonna explode,_ thought the Chinese youth to himself.

"But first things first – I came here to see little Gou!" said Mariah. Alexandra carefully handed Gou over to her after Mariah set Rin down on the sofa between them.

"Oh my god! He's absolutely _adorable_!" exclaimed Mariah as she cuddled the tiny child in delight. "Hello, sweetie!" She made baby noises to Gou as Alexandra told the teenagers that this was the first time Mariah was seeing Gou.

"It was too bad – poor Rin came down with a bad case of colic just when we got the news from Kai about the baby's birth!" said Mariah, looking up from Gou. "We couldn't travel then – and I was only able to come down from China now! Ray's lucky – he got to see Gou last month when he came here for a short business trip."

Daichi decided to ask about something that had just occurred to him. "Hey, Alexandra!" The blonde woman turned to him, a little startled by his sudden address. "How come you recognised everyone else when you saw them, but not me?"

She tilted her head, a slight smile playing across her lips. "Well, first off, you all don't need to keep calling me "Alexandra" all the time; just Alex is fine – that's what everyone calls me."

Mariah chimed in, her eyes glittering with amusement. "Oh, I know all about this one! "Alexandra" is reserved _just_ for Kai, okay? So she doesn't like anyone else calling her that."

Alex blushed furiously and glared at the pinkette. "Shut up, Mariah! It's nothing like that!"

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it isn't!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

The teens couldn't help but be amused, particularly since it was the stoic and usually grumpy _Kai_ who was the subject of this argument.

Finally, after glaring down Mariah, Alex turned back to them with a huff.

"As to your question, Daichi," she said, stressing on her words while shooting Mariah an evil look. "Well…you actually look really different now, so that's why I didn't even think about it….." She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, tapping a finger to her chin. "Hmm, honestly I think I forgot you used to be so tiny!"

Tyson and Max suppressed a snort of laughter while Daichi prickled. "I'm not tiny!"

Alex raised her hands in apology. "Okay, okay! It's just that you seem to have had a big growth spurt."

Daichi's eyes lit up at the information. "Really? Am I taller than Tyson?"

"About the same height, I think," Mariah answered the question, smiling in amusement as Daichi whooped and began rubbing it in Tyson's face. She then turned to Alex, a serious look now on her face. "Hey, Alex – I think Ray would like to know about this."

Alex's expression turned grave as well. "Yeah. I was going to call Tyson, Hilary, Max, Kenny, you and Ray myself before I heard that you were coming over. We need to figure out how these guys got here, and how to get them back to their own timeline."

She turned back to the teenagers. "So - just to be sure – you are _positive_ that nothing else unusual happened before you found that stone, right?"

They all nodded in confirmation.

"We're sure," said Tyson.

"Alright," She took Gou, who had fallen asleep, from Mariah and stood up. "Mariah, you call Ray - I'll just put Gou down for his nap in the nursery and then contact the others. Kai may not be able to make it too soon since a meeting suddenly came up."

"Right. Oh, Ray? Could you hold Rin for me for a bit while I make the call?" asked Mariah, turning to Ray and holding out the baby.

"Oh! Uh - sure!" Ray stammered, awkwardly taking the little girl from her.

"I'll be back in a minute," said Alex as she and Mariah left the room. "Please, make yourselves at home till then."

Once the door closed behind the two women, Tyson turned to his friends. "This is totally unreal."

Kenny nodded. "I know! I keep feeling like this is all a weird dream!"

Hilary got up and walked to one of the large windows. "I can't believe we got to see Ray and Kai's _children_!" She looked out over the garden, starry-eyed. "I wonder if _I'm_ married yet..." she wondered out loud in a dreamy tone.

Tyson shuddered "Tone it down with the girliness, Hil...you're starting to freak me out..."

Ray looked down at Rin, who was currently sitting comfortably in his lap and playing with the hem of his shirt. She suddenly looked up at him and smiled. "Dada!"

"Hey, look at that, Ray!" laughed Max. "She already figured out that you're her daddy!"

Ray blushed a little, while smiling down at the child, feeling a surge of affection as she continued to giggle cutely while looking at him.

Daichi, in the meantime, was sulking, poking his toe moodily at the carpet. "It's not fair. Why did Alex have to be married to that grouch -"

"Kai!" Hilary cried out suddenly.

Daichi frowned. "That was who I was talking about..."

"No, you dummy" It's Kai! _Our_ Kai! He's here!" she exclaimed, leaning out of the window.

The others ran over to the window to look. Sure enough, Kai was heading towards the house, his scarf billowing behind him in the wind. He seemed to have scaled the compound wall to get in.

"KAI! Over here!" Tyson called out to him, pushing the window open and jumping out to land on the grass just two feet below the sill, and jogging over to him. The others followed - including Ray, who was still carrying Rin. Kai turned, surprise clearly showing on his features.

" _Tyson?_ " He narrowed his eyes at the younger boy as he came up to him. "What are _you_ doing in _my_ house?"

Tyson smirked. He was going to pay Kai back for his snarky comments at the dojo. "How do you know this is still your house?" he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest smugly.

To his surprise, Kai returned his smirk and pointed in the direction of the front gates. "Easy. It still says 'Hiwatari Manor' on the plaque."

Tyson scowled at being one-upped like this. "Why did you climb the wall to get in, then?!"

Kai made an impatient sound. "Use your common sense, Tyson. Don't you think the guards would have been a little surprised if a 17 year old version of the house's resident just waltzed up to the gates?"

"Kai! We've been waiting for you to show up, you jerk!" yelled Daichi, still clearly angry at Kai for various reasons, as the rest of the G-Revolutions caught up with them.

"Well, sorry to keep you all waiting," said Kai sarcastically, not even bothering to look at the redhead as he raised his eyes to scan the exteriors of the mansion. He lowered his gaze once again to level a glare at them.

"You still haven't told me how you broke into my house," he said.

"Well excuse me!" said Hilary indignantly, putting her hands on her hips. "We didn't break in! For your information, we were invited here!"

"By whom, may I ask?"

"Hey! Where did everyone go!?" A voice drifted out of the open sitting room window, followed by Mariah poking her head out of it. "There you are!" she exclaimed when she spotted them.

" _Mariah_!?" Kai stared at her in astonishment, immediately recognising her by her hot pink hair and feline features.

She beamed at him. "Oh, hey, Kai! we were wondering when you were going to get here!"

"What's going on?" Kai watched as a young woman with long golden hair leaned out of the window as well.

"Your teenage prince charming has arrived, Alex," said Mariah with a short laugh.

 _What_? thought Kai as the girl gave Mariah a quick disapproving frown before turning her attention to him. She smiled sweetly at him, causing his face to flush slightly at the unexpectedly affectionate look.

"We've been expecting you, Kai." she said. "Come on in, all of you - the others will be here soon."

She then disappeared inside, followed by Mariah, who motioned with her hand for them to come in before withdrawing.

Kai turned back to his friends. "Explain."

* * *

There you have it! I actually accidentally deleted this chapter and had to re-type it - that's why it took extra long.

Thank you all for the reviews and follows! AquilaTempestas - thank you for your feedback! I'll try to do the details more justice.

-AthenaSeiki

P.S Don't forget to rate and review, kind readers!


	7. Meet the Bladebreakers

Hello, everyone! A quick update - chapter 7!

Disclaimer : I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters (though I do own a very nice Dranzer GT and Draciels S to V2)

* * *

A Secret to Be Told

Chapter 7: Meet the Bladebreakers

Kai looked at his friends. "Explain."

Before any of them could respond, a small, peevish cry drew their attention to the small child still in Ray's arms, who seemed to have disliked the fact that nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her.

Kai stared at the child, then raised an eyebrow at Ray. "And you're holding a baby because….."

 _What am I supposed to say?_ thought Ray. _Oh, this is just my daughter?_

However, Hilary beat him to it. "This is Ray and Mariah's daughter, Rin!"

Kai looked at the child in astonishment for all of two seconds before his face fell back into its usual emotionless expression.

"Figures," he said. "And who's the blond?"

He once again arched an eyebrow as they exchanged looks, except Tyson, whose downright gleeful expression almost made him flinch.

"Oh, that's just Alex – short for Alexandra – the "pretty lady" Daichi helped out earlier" – he paused for dramatic effect – "and _your wife_."

Tyson watched with glee as the colour drained from Kai's face.

" _What?!"_ he choked. Tyson fell to the ground and rolled about laughing. "Ahahahaha! You should see the look on your face! Even you can't believe that you're ma-married!" Tyson gasped as his stomach began hurting from laughing. Kai simply continued to stare at Tyson, who was wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as he stood up, with a look of utter disbelief on his face.

"Hey, come on guys!" said Kenny, hoping to defuse the situation before Kai's temper took a turn for the worse because of Tyson's continued laughter. "We should head back in."

Once everyone, including a still rather stunned Kai, were inside the house, Mariah took Rin from Ray and said, "Okay, so Alex and I called everyone and asked them to get here asap – Kenny, Max, Tyson and Hilary will be here soon, and so will Ray; Daichi's in his hometown, so he can only be here by tomorrow morning at the earliest. Alex is still trying to reach Kai, but he may not be able to come till later." She finished and then laughed.

"Boy, it sure is weird talking to you all about yourselves!" causing everyone else (minus Kai) to laugh as well.

Alexandra came into the room. "His secretary said the meeting will be over soon."

Kai stared at her as she sat down, taking in the details of her appearance, from her hair, complexion and eyes down to the delicate curves of her body.

"She _is_ beautiful," he thought to himself, unable to fight back the faintest tinge of colour from his cheeks. Thankfully for him, nobody noticed.

The sound of loud crying suddenly made itself heard from somewhere upstairs. Alexandra once again got to her feet with a small sigh. "He was fast asleep just a few minutes ago…" she said, hurriedly exiting the room.

"Oh, that's right! We didn't tell you about Gou!" exclaimed Max, turning to Kai, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "You have a kid in this time too, Kai! And he looks just like you! Isn't that cool!?"

Kai simply stared blankly at him, momentarily dumbstruck.

"Haha! I don't think I've ever seen Kai look so shocked!" laughed Tyson.

Kai's expression changed and he gave Tyson a very intimidating glare, and he was about to chew him out when the door was thrown open and a tall, lithe young man dressed in Chinese style clothing with very long black hair pulled back in a dark blue wrap and golden eyes walked in. He cast his gaze over the room, which seemed to have been momentarily stunned into silence, before giving a lopsided smile that exposed the tips of his sharp canines. "Well, it certainly looks like I missed quite a bit."

"RAY!?" The teenagers collectively burst out, while Mariah gave a tiny squeal of delight and strode over to give him a quick peck on the lips. They all stared at the grown up version of Ray, who was once again looking at them - a tiny frown now on his face - and the teenage Ray, who was looking slightly flustered by Mariah's little PDA.

"So, about what happened…..you guys mind telling me the details?"

...

"So, let me get this straight….an ancient stone tablet somehow transported you six years ahead of your time?" questioned Ray, after the teens recounted the day's events to him (Alex had joined them soon after as well after attending to Gou, and greeted Ray warmly). "And Kenny," he turned to the bespectacled boy. "You found that there were some energy signals similar to that produced by bit-beasts emanating from the stone?"

"Yes, that's right," confirmed Kenny. "I'm trying to process the data by running it through some programs on my computer, but I'm not sure if I can get any satisfactory explanation…."

"I'm sure yourself and Max – the ones from our timeline, I mean – can help you out on that front. They have some highly advanced computers at the BBA research facility."

"Wait – Chief and I work with the BBA!?" asked Max, his eyes wide with curiosity and astonishment.

"Yup," said Ray, smiling. "Doing a great job too – beyblading technology is progressing at an enormously rapid pace these days!"

"Wow! That's _amazing_!" exclaimed Kenny, excitement and delight written all across his features. He had always wanted to work at a BBA tech laboratory.

"Wicked cool!" agreed Max, looking just as excited as Kenny.

At that precise moment, the door was pushed open once again and four people entered – a cheerful and energetic looking blond young man, a shorter, bespectacled man with a thin goatee, a well-built and tall man with his navy blue hair styled in a longish mullet and a young lady with choppy, shoulder length brown hair.

"Hi, everyone!" greeted Mariah excitedly, running up to hug the brunette.

"Good to see you all again!" said Ray with a grin, going around and warmly embracing all of them.

"Glad everyone could make it," smiled Alex.

"No-no way..." mumbled Tyson as he gaped at their future selves.

* * *

Seven chapters done! Woohoo! ...And a large number still left to go. Heh.

An apology for the long introductions...some of which are still to be made(sweatdrops). Thank you for your patience!

Also, I realise that up to now Alex has been coming off as a much dreaded typical 'first-timer OC' girl, but some of her personality defects will be revealed later on in the story - so not to worry! She won't be a Little Miss Perfect!

Remember to rate and review!


	8. Some Things Never Change

Good day to you, readers! I present to you chapter 8!

Disclaimer: I do not own a flying pony

...or Beyblade.

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 8: Some things never change

"No-no way…." mumbled Tyson as he gaped at their future selves.

"Are they…really _us_?" asked Hilary in a soft, awed voice, as Kenny, Ray and Max stared with their mouths slightly open and Daichi muttered " _Unreal…_ "

"….." Kai showed practically no emotion on his face – he was already well beyond being shocked.

"So these are the time-travellers!" exclaimed the blonde man, who could only be Max, as the group of adults turned their attention to the teens. He laughed as he looked at his younger self. "Man, I forgot what I used to look like when I was younger!" They took this as an over-exaggeration, since even though the features of this Max were more grown-up, he really didn't look all that different. Well, aside from the fact that he was not wearing blindingly bright colours, and was dressed in a navy blue t-shirt and faded jeans.

"Fascinating – I never would have thought time-travel to be possible," said Kenny, adjusting his glasses. The teens were rather taken aback by the changes in the Chief's physical appearance – the facial hair, added height and significant deepening of his voice seemed to have added a certain maturity to him, which disturbed them a little since Kenny, even while he was fifteen, was often mistaken for younger by his appearance and nervous manner. His dressing sense though had not changed, and he wore a spotless white shirt with a red tie and beige trousers under his long grey coat.

Hilary couldn't help but now note – even though he had arrived earlier - the differences in Ray as well. He too, had a more mature look to his face, and had gained a few inches in height, and also more girth to his shoulders and back.

Tyson, whose features had become more angular and seemed to have gained some significant muscle mass along with height over the years – not to mention the shocking fact that he was not wearing his precious baseball cap - grinned enthusiastically at them.

"This is actually pretty sweet!" he said, only to be slapped in the arm by Hilary – who also definitely looked more grown-up thanks to the loss of her old choppy, pixie hairstyle and her wearing a pale blue button-up blouse and cut-off capris instead of the cute mini-skirts, pink tops and shorts they were all used to. Tyson also happened to notice another change in the brunette...

"Boy, looks like you've put on some weight, huh, Hil?"

Adult Tyson froze in horror. "Uh oh. Bad thing to say!" he said in alarm, quickly covering his ears in preparation for the auditory assault as the grown-up version of the team manager turned red with anger and screamed at the top of her lungs. "I AM NOT FAT, YOU DOPE! I'm pregnant!"

Mariah facepalmed while all the other adults and Kai shook their heads at Tyson's lack of tact.

"GAAH! You are!?" teenage Hilary cried in shock, staring at her future counterpart's stomach. Sure enough, she did have a visible baby bump, though not a big one.

"Yes! Four months!" she replied, her nose in the air, very offended by Tyson's remark.

"That means - that means - I'm married, right!?" Hilary squealed excitedly. "Ooh, tell me! Is he good-looking? I bet he's hot!"

The boys noticed that adult Ray cleared his throat loudly at this and Max and Kenny looked like they were trying not to laugh, while Tyson had got an all-too-familiar, cheeky grin on his face as he rubbed his nose with his index finger. Mariah and Alex, on the other hand, looked worried.

"This is _so_ not going to end well..." whispered Alex to Mariah, who nodded in agreement.

Hilary's future self sighed, almost defeatedly. "Unfortunately, I'm married to _this_ idiot." The teenagers' eyes widened in shock as she jerked her thumb at none other than the grown-up Tyson.

The silence that followed was like the lull before the storm. Teen Tyson and Hilary gaped at their counterparts, before slowly turning their heads to look at each other, first turning sheet-white, then tomato red.

Then all hell broke loose.

"WHAAAAT?! IT'S NOT TRUE - PLEASE TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE!"

"NOOOOO! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD _I_ HAVE MARRIED THAT LAZY IDIOT?!"

"WHO'RE YA CALLING AN IDIOT, YOU LOUDMOUTH?!"

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK - YOU ARE THE ONE WHOSE MOUTH IS ALWAYS OPEN TO BOAST, COMPLAIN, OR STUFF YOURSELF LIKE A PIG!"

"AT LEAST I'M NOT THE ONE WHO ENDED UP PUTTING ON SO MUCH WEIGHT!"

"THAT'S IT!" screamed both Hilarys at the same time, pouncing on the teenage Tyson and proceeding to savagely beat him up.

It took the combined efforts of all the men to pull the enraged girl and young woman off of Tyson, who could unfortunately, not be saved from receiving several claw marks from long nails, a bleeding lip and a healthy black eye.

Kai nearly laughed at his rival's pitiful condition.

"Are you okay, Tyson?" asked adult Ray, checking the boy for any serious injuries, while Alex and Mariah tried to calm down the still fuming brunettes.

"No..." moaned Tyson, holding his sore head.

"Really though, you should know better than to comment on a lady's weight...particularly a hormonal, pregnant lady's weight," continued Ray with a frown, after ascertaining that no permanent damage had been done.

Adult Max laughed at this. "But that's a lesson Ray learned first-hand from Mariah, isn't it?"

Ray sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "Yeah; and it's a lesson I'm never gonna forget..."

"Boys, please," said Mariah, walking over to them with Rin in her arms, now that she and Alex had succeeded in pacifying the furious young ladies. "We should really discuss the problem at hand - we have no idea how this little accident is messing up the timeline."

"Mariah's right," Kenny's future counterpart spoke up. "There is no telling what the implications could be...or what may already have been altered."

"You mean the future - _our_ future - could change because of this?" asked teen Max.

Kenny nodded gravely. "We can't tell for sure obviously - but it is a very real possibility that things may change - either due to this whole time-travelling itself, both in your time and in ours, or by your stay here...the case is fraught with complications." He suddenly looked uneasy. "Also, who knows if the time is passing differently in both timelines and how much time has already elapsed in your world..."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, as the teens wondered what their families would be going though if they were missing for days...if they went missing _forever._

The train of heavy thoughts was finally broken by Kai, who as usual, commanded full attention on the rather rare occasions when he spoke. "So, how are we going to go about this?"

"Firstly, Chief and I are going to take the data Kenny here" - Max motioned to the mousey-haired boy - "collected and analyse it. We'll try to find the root of the energy signals and then, maybe...try to recreate them?" Max turned to Kenny, who nodded. "That sounds like the best bet."

"Until then, you guys should keep a low profile," said adult Hilary, coming over to them now that she had calmed down. "Most people would probably pass you off as cosplayers, but still, it won't do to have people getting suspiscious and risking them finding out that you're from the past; it would cause a huge uproar."

"Hils has-" adult Tyson was cut off by Alex's cell phone ringing.

"Sorry," said Alex, looking at the caller ID. "It's Kai," she informed them quickly, taking the call and walking further away from the group to speak to him.

"Well, Hil has a point, like I was saying," said Tyson. "Obviously, you all will be staying with one of us till things get sorted out. There's enough room in the dojo…."

"I think I'd rather not," said teen Tyson quickly, casting a frightened glance at adult Hilary. No sir, dealing with one Hilary was difficult enough, he certainly didn't want to have to deal with two…

"Me neither," piped up teen Hilary. The thought of staying with her and Tyson's future selves – who were actually a _married couple..._ Just too weird for words.

"I'm afraid neither Kenny nor I have enough room to accommodate everyone together," said Max. "And I don't like the idea of you guys sleeping in the hobby shop's basement."

"Wait a sec," said teen Max. "Dad's still running shop?"

"Yeah, of course!"

Max frowned. "But we couldn't find it when we went there!"

"Oh – that's 'coz we shifted. Dad opened a bigger shop a few blocks down from there."

Max smiled. "That's great." Though he would certainly miss his father's old store, he was relieved that the business hadn't been closed altogether.

"Ray, Rin and I are staying at a hotel ourselves," said Mariah, guiding the conversation back to the previous subject. "So I'm afraid we can't help with accommodations either…"

"That only leaves Kai and Alex's place," said Hilary. "I think it's the best option actually…there's more than enough room here, and the grounds are so large, you all won't feel restricted or cramped, even if you don't get to go out a lot."

"If that's fine with them…." said adult Ray, turning to look at Alex, who was still on the phone.

"….I'm not joking!" she was saying."….They have no idea – apparently that stone they picked up started glowing and the next minute – stop being sarcastic!" she snapped down the line, an annoyed scowl coming to her face. "If you don't believe me, you can come home and see for yourself!" She paused, listening. Her expression softened slightly. "Fine. Bye."

"Kai being sceptical, huh?" asked adult Ray with an amused smile.

"What else did you expect?" asked Alex as she returned to join them.

Tyson stole a glance at their Kai, and saw that he was staring at the carpet with an indifferent expression on his face.

"Nonetheless, he said that he's leaving right now," she continued. "He'll be here in another hour or so."

"That's good," said adult Tyson. "So….as to where these guys are gonna crash for the time being…..is it okay if they hang at your place?"

"Sure. Why not?" Alex said with a shrug. A small smirk played across her lips as she turned to the teenagers. "Although I expect Kai is going to be laying down a few rules about behaviour in the house…."

Teen Tyson chuckled. "Guess Kai's still an ol' sourpuss, huh?" he said, grinning cheekily at his rival.

Kai's eye twitched in irritation. "I suppose a few restrictions must be placed to ensure that you don't trash the place, Tyson," he said in a condescending tone.

"Nyeh!" Tyson stuck his tongue out and pulled a goofy face at Kai.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Grow up, idiot."

"Wahwah! Wiw you take me for a walkie in da pawk, Kai?" said Tyson, rubbing his knuckles against his eyes and pouting.

"Do you want another black eye to go with the one you already have?"

Tyson stopped his baby act. "Hey! That's not very nice, ya jerk!"

All the adults started laughing.

"Man, they always bicker like this!" laughed Max.

"So they're like this even now?" asked Ray in amusement.

"Even worse, if possible," said Kenny. "I guess some things never change."

Just then, Daichi, teen and adult Tyson's stomachs growled loudly and simultaneously.

"Whoops." They all laughed nervously and scratched the back of their heads.

Hilary facepalmed. "Guess some things really never do change…"

* * *

That concludes chapter 8! I would like to thank PK Styles and Minij Akane for their reviews - I am so happy you like the story! Love you guys :)

On another note, I found out that the constant differentiation between 'adult' and 'teen' self is annoying, but unfortunately necessary.

...I now bid adieu to you, good readers, and leave it in your able hands to review this work of fiction, while I take leave to write out the first few chapters of a new beyblade AU fiction I have been planning, which takes place in a mythical land of demons and angels and shall, hopefully, be published before the weekend is out.

Regards

AthenaSeiki


	9. Reminicsence

Yo! I know, I know... I'm late.

Sorry about it - but hey! - to compensate I now present to you this extra long chapter that I had to split into two parts to keep it from becoming four times longer than the other chapters! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Beyblade shall, sadly, never belong to me. (Or I would make Max the Supreme Lord of the Universe)

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 9: Reminiscence

They had all sat down to eat a late lunch.

"WOW! So much food! And it smells sooo good!" exclaimed Daichi excitedly, loading his plate with dollops of everything on the table.

"Ift dewitioush!" said teen Tyson through a mouthful of food.

"Gross, Tyson!" admonished teen Hilary. "Don't you know it's bad manners to speak with your mouth full?!" She then went on to lecture the beyblading champ on table manners, repeatedly smacking the back of his hand with a spoon whenever he tried to reach for the food, ignoring his complaints and pleas to let him eat in peace.

Mariah had gone upstairs with Alex to settle Rin in the nursery with Gou, since it was time for her afternoon nap.

"Hey – where did Kai go off to?" asked grown-up Hilary, looking around for the moody teenager, who seemed to have vanished into thin air.

"He's probably off sulking somewhere again," said Daichi, popping a riceball into his mouth, only to nearly choke on it after being whacked upside the head by Hilary.

...

Kai walked down the first floor corridors, taking in the house that he had come to know as his home after he had left the Abbey…..

 _Flashback_

 _Sirens wailed. People rushed about in a blur, shouting for help or searching frantically for others trapped under the rubble of the old monastery, half of which had caved in and was left in a smoking, smouldering wreck, thanks to the curiosity of one young boy._

 _The same boy who was now sitting on a low, half-built stone wall a safe distance away from the ruin, covered in dust and dirt and small cuts and bruises, shivering inspite of the heavy, fur-lined coat draped around his small frame as he watched the scene with fearful, slightly teary amethyst eyes. He sat a little way off from the group of boys who were huddled together, some of the younger ones clinging to each other in fright, while the older boys whispered amongst themselves, occasionally looking at him warily or even pointing. He did not pay them much attention. He was terrified of what had happened…what he had caused. How could one Beyblade do so much damage? He tried to remember exactly what had transpired earlier in the night, but his memory was frustratingly hazy... all he could remember was taking Black Dranzer from its holder; the rush of unbridled power he had felt coursing through his veins when he held it before he launched it…... the next thing he was aware of was dull pain through his body, followed by an Abbey guard pulling him out from under a pile of rubble and carrying him out of the ruins. After doing a quick check to make sure that he had not sustained any major injuries - miraculously, he had been saved by a huge slab falling on top of a toppled column just above him, creating a niche and protecting him from most of the falling pieces of the collapsing roof and the walls. The guard led him to the other boys who had been evacuated and given him an oversized coat before heading back to continue searching for more trapped children._

 _In the light cast by the ambulances' sirens and the fire engines headlights, Kai spotted two figures walking towards him – a tall, robed figure and a slightly shorter, stouter one wearing a cloak and carrying a walking stick. A shiver ran up the nine-year old's spine when they were close enough for him to recognise one of them….Boris. The boy resisted the urge to get up and bolt. He knew firsthand what sort of punishments were given for disobedience by the Abbey director, and he was certain that Boris wouldn't be too happy with him after he had broken curfew, sneaked out and messed with the strictly off-limits Black Dranzer and managed to blow up half of the Abbey._

" _Young Kai…." Kai swallowed and raised his eyes to meet Boris'. He could tell that the man was furious from the harsh look in his eye; however, he managed to keep his facial features and voice calm and unreadable. "It seems that you have developed quite a knack for troublemaking…."_

 _Kai lowered his gaze slightly. Even though he feared Boris, he was still too proud to offer any form of justification for his actions or apologise. He instead chose to look at the man beside Boris, and his brow immediately furrowed as he stared at him in confusion._

 _The man was elderly – probably in his late sixties – and had long silver hair that reached down to the middle of his back. He had an austere, distinguished air about his face and appearance in general, and wore a steel grey, old-fashioned suit under his long black travelling cloak._

" _G-Grandfather?" asked Kai, scarcely believing his eyes. He was surprised that he even recognised him, considering he had not seen his grandfather for four years…ever since he had left him in the Abbey._

" _Hello, Kai," said Voltaire, the tiniest of smiles on his face as he looked down at his grandson. "I'm glad to see that you have not forgotten me."_

"… _." Kai was rendered momentarily speechless. Why was his grandfather here? He had never visited him, ever, in all his time at the Abbey - he had said that he was leaving Kai here so that he could learn new things and become strong…he remembered how he had silently cried for his grandfather on his first few nights in the Abbey, but had eventually stopped pining, eager to make Voltaire, his only remaining family, proud of him by becoming independent and strong, just as he wished him to become._

" _What's the matter, Kai? Are you not happy to see me?" Kai looked up at the elderly man again, who was regarding him with an impassive expression, though there was a ghost of an amused smirk on his face._

" _Why? Why are you here now?" the question tumbled from the boy's mouth before he even thought about it._

 _Voltaire spread his arms and smiled, though the smile did not reach his eyes._

" _Why, my dear grandson. I have come to take you home."_

 _End Flashback_

Voltaire had taken Kai to his estate on the other side of Moscow, far away from the Abbey, where Kai spent nearly two years being home-schooled and taught upper society etiquette. He spent almost all his time within the estate, and rarely ever met anyone else aside from the housekeepers, butlers and his tutors. Voltaire was almost always pre-occupied with work, and their interactions were mostly short and formal, with his grandfather occasionally questioning him about his educational progress. He realised now that it was probably around that time that all his memories of the Abbey had been subconsciously supressed; his mind simply choosing to bury that harrowing phase of his life - he couldn't even remember at that point how he had come to live with his grandfather; whenever he tried to recollect further back, his mind always drew a blank. He had only ever questioned his grandfather once about it, and the old man had simply told him that he had been living under his care all the while, and probably had trouble recollecting because of a minor accident in which he had hurt his head when he was nine. Kai had believed him, and did not ask about it again.

When Kai was eleven, they moved back to Japan, taking up residence in the old Hiwatari family mansion where Kai was born and had spent his early childhood. He vaguely remembered the place, but had no clear memories of it, barring those of the day his father left, which he could not seem to forget even if he wanted to. In Japan, he was still home-schooled, but was given more freedom by his grandfather to do as he pleased - it was during this time that he formed the BeySharks street gang, searching for the 'legendary bit-beasts' his grandfather had told him about. He had stared interacting with Voltaire more, who seemed to have developed a fascination with the power of the mythical spirits, and encouraged him to search for and capture them. Kai, wanting nothing more than to be the most powerful beyblader of all and win his grandfather's admiration, eagerly complied with all his demands. Of course, things between the two of them definitely got a lot more complicated after the Russian Championships….

Kai shook his head. He didn't really want to think about his sour relationship with Voltaire at the moment. Though he couldn't help wondering…..the old man was nowhere to be seen in this time. Maybe he'd kicked the bucket? Or finally been hauled off to jail for all his illegal business and conspiracies…

He eyed the décor of the house with mild interest. The house's atmosphere seemed to have changed just by keeping the drapes open to let in sunlight, and slight changes in the furnishings and artwork. There were a significantly lesser number of those old suits of armour that Voltaire had been so fond of, not to mention the weaponry collection. The more drab and depressing paintings (which, frankly, even Kai had disliked) had been replaced by warmer ones, which helped lift the general gloomy and unwelcoming feel the manor used to have.

He was currently heading to the eastern wing of the house – where his bedroom was. He finally reached the room, and slowly pushed open the door.

It hadn't changed much – only a few personal belongings were missing from the desk and bedside table. There were the boxes of spare beyblade parts set in one corner of the room and several rows of books lined neatly on the bookshelves. Kai walked around the room. A white sheet covered the bed, and on checking the cupboard - which had also been previously covered - he found more than half of his clothes – his _old_ clothes in this time, he reminded himself – neatly folded and kept in there. Clearly, he had moved out of his old room. He noted that Dranzer wasn't there either – he probably kept it on his person, or in his new room. He tossed the sheet back over the cupboard, and after one last, sweeping glance around the room, he exited, pulling the door closed behind him.

He was about to head to the next floor when he noticed that the door of the room adjacent to his was slightly ajar, in contrast to the other rooms' doors, which were all closed, and some even locked. He pushed the door open and looked inside.

It was a nursery. The walls were painted in warm shades of cream and orange, with red trimming. There was a play pen close to the door, filled with all sorts of toys. Kai resisted the urge to throw up when he saw all the cute stuff toys littering the floor and lining the shelves in the room, which flanked an assortment of baby-care products and baby bottles, a couple of old playschool books and several other little toy figures and dolls. A baby's cot stood in the middle of the room. There was a rocking chair in one corner, and a table – which Kai assumed was meant to change the baby on - to his left just beside the window. Against the far wall of the room, opposite the rocking chair was a small bed overflowing with cushions and throw pillows. Ray and Mariah's kid, Rin, was curled up in the sea of pillows, fast asleep. His eyes then landed once again on the cot in the middle of the room. It had those little miniature toys and figurines hanging over it, swaying and chiming gently. As Kai approached the cot, his eye was caught by a couple of unusual figurines – among the stars, smiley faces and little cartoony cats there was a dark brown falcon with large wings and talons and jagged feathers, and the second was a regal looking bird with crimson feathers and a golden crown and breast-plate like armour, with a long tail that split into three at the tips….Dranzer.

Kai's attention was drawn downwards by a small rustling sound. The little boy in the cot was awake, and regarding him with wide, curious purple eyes. They stared at each other for several seconds, before Kai finally broke the silence.

" You _do_ look like me, I guess," said Kai gruffly, earning a cute tilt of the head and a blink from the baby. He then gurgled and raised his little arms towards him, as if he wanted to be picked up.

"You're gonna have to learn to stand on your own feet, squirt," he told the infant, who, to Kai's slight amusement, lowered his arms and scrunched his eyebrows together a little, as if unused to such a response.

 _"What had they called him?"_ thought Kai _. "...Gou"_ he recalled.

"Kai! Where are you? Come on down and eat something - we're having lunch!" called a voice that sounded like Ray's (probably the one from this time, Kai guessed).

 _I should probably go down there, or else Tyson will lead a search party after me,_ thought Kai in mild annoyance. He looked down at Gou again, who was still watching him with rapt attention.

"See you around, squirt," he said, before turning around and leaving the room.

* * *

And there you have it! I thank Minij Akane, PK Styles and Indigo Jupiter for their reviews.

PK Styles, I will try my best to add more humour wherever possible - thank you for the advice! And Indigo Jupiter...though this _is_ a TyHil fic, there _will_ actually be some little KaiHil references later on in the story. :3

Don't forget to hit the review button once you're done reading!

 **P.S.** IMPORTANT! Apologies since this is not related to this fic...not directly, anyways. I am thinking of putting my other serious multi-chapter story, Nebesa, on a (rather ridiculously long) hiatus, since I have not been receiving any reviews - good or bad - for it...and frankly, because that's a little disheartening, as you all know. This will be till I finish A Secret To Be Told (which still has _several_ chapters left to go), so that I can concentrate on the updates for this story alone, while I further develop Nebesa's plot (which I _do_ intend to finish).

If any of you are following that story and want it to continue, and would like to offer some feedback about it, please let me know.

Thanks!

-AthenaSeiki


	10. Welcome home, Master Hiwatari

I'm sorry, sorry, sorry! I was caught up with a proverbial mountain of homework and had no time to update. I'll try my best to be regular. Thank you for your patience!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor a fancy mansion like Kai's. *sniff*

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 10: Welcome Home, Master Hiwatari

The next hour passed fairly peacefully. Max, Kenny, Tyson and their respective future counterparts as well as Ray and Hilary, were sitting in a semi-circle on the rug, watching intently, along with Alex and future Hilary - who were seated on a nearby sofa - as the grown-up Kenny and Max studied and discussed the findings on the bespectacled boy's laptop. Adult Ray had left to help Mariah with Rin, who had woken up about ten minutes back and was wailing inconsolably at the top of her lungs, forcing her parents to take her outside in an attempt to distract her with the flowers in the garden. Kai kept his distance from the group, standing with his back against the wall a little further away, though listening to every word of the ongoing discussion.

Another half an hour passed before the sitting room door swung open once again and a tall man in a black dress shirt and grey slacks, with two-toned slate and black hair and cold, yet striking lavender eyes strode in, stopping to examine the group of teenagers sitting on the floor, who stared back at him in astonishment.

"Huh….looks like you weren't kidding," he said, glancing at his wife who simply rolled her eyes as if to say "Well, duh."

"Yo, Kai!" shouted both Tysons at the same time, causing the adult as well as the teenage Kai to scowl at them.

The future version of Kai was a few inches taller than his teen self and his hair, though still styled in the same unruly manner, was cut a little shorter, making him lose the "been training in the wilderness" look, though certainly not entirely. He also looked as fit as ever, biceps and pectorals discernible under his rather tight-fitting shirt – which was unsurprising, considering how particular Kai was about always staying in top physical condition.

He turned back to the rest of the group. "Did you guys figure out how they got here?" he asked, addressing Kenny in particular.

Kenny nodded. "We've analysed the data and it seems quite certainly due to the activity of some untamed, ancient beast spirits which were possibly trapped in the stone tablet they picked up," he said." – but as to how we can reverse the events or send them back" – he exchanged an uneasy glance with the other adults present – "…..that's a bit of a problem."

"Ideas?" Kai prompted.

"We thought first about trying to track down the beast spirits responsible by tracing the energy signature – even though the tablet seemingly just vanished, we can still hope to find the spirits if they were set loose," said Max. "But we honestly have no idea about their powers and might end up sending these guys to some other timeline…"

"Yeah, we already agreed, we'll pass on that," said teen Tyson quickly.

"It's too risky," agreed adult Kenny. "The second option is that we artificially recreate the bit-beasts' energy exactly and reverse the signal wavelengths in the negative – I'll need a little more time and research to be certain of the exact procedure – and that will get them back home."

"Isn't that something like those cyber bit-beasts?" asked adult Kai with a small frown.

"Sort of – but we'll only be recreating their _energy_ , not the bit-beasts themselves," said Kenny. "The only thing is, we need to be a hundred percent accurate – you remember how much trouble 's scientists had with controlling the beasts' energy? Though it's not impossible, it's definitely complicated and will take a fair amount of time, to say the least."

Kai groaned. "Great. So that means we're saddled with these brats for a while."

"Hey!" protested teen Tyson, springing to his feet along with an offended Daichi. "Who're you calling brats, you grouch!?" they demanded together, while teen Hilary sat up on her knees as well, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Kai indignantly with a "Hmph!"

Adult Kai shook his head. "Whatever. As long as I don't have to put up with them too much."

Adult Tyson smirked at this. "Actually, Kai," he drawled. "You might find that a bit difficult, since till we manage to get them back… they'll be staying with you."

Kai turned sharply to glare at Tyson. "What did you say!?"

The teenage Tyson jumped in to taunt Kai as well. "You heard," he said smugly. "We'll be camping here for as long as it takes to get back, so you better get used to having us around."

"Absolutely not," said Kai. "I see no reason for you all to stay here – there's enough room at the dojo. I would have thought you would prefer to stay at your own house, Tyson?" he commented, narrowing his eyes at the blue-haired teen.

Tyson's smug look faltered as he cast a furtive glace at adult Hilary. "Uh…I really think I'd rather not…"

The grown-up Kai gave a low growl of frustration. "Stop being such a spoiled brat," he snapped. He already had enough headaches listening to the board members and executives complaining and arguing non-stop and was in absolutely no mood to put up with a teenage Tyson and Daichi running around the house.

"Come on, Kai – be a sport," said Alex, a twinkle of amusement in her eye as she watched his expression sour further and shoot her a half-hearted glare.

"Please, Kai?" Teen Max put on his best puppy-dog eyes, making it impossible for the future version of their friend to ignore. "We won't bother you at all….you wouldn't turn us away when we need your help would you?"

"Tch," Kai grimaced; trying, yet failing, to ignore Max as he amped up the cute puppy look, and hopeful little sparkles and bubbles seemed to appear around him. _Damn you, Max! Giving me those eyes - you cunning, guilt-tripping little…_

"Fine," He finally relented, unable to stand the overdose of cuteness, much to everyone's relief. "They can stay. But"- he turned to face the teenagers, glaring at them, clearly annoyed. "You must behave yourselves – particularly you two," he pointed at Tyson and Daichi. "That means no running around, yelling and shouting, breaking things and being a nuisance in general. Got it?"

"What are we, five?" grumbled Tyson.

"Mentally, yes," said Kai with a smirk. He continued speaking before Tyson could open his mouth to retaliate. "Furthermore, my bedroom and study are strictly off-limits to all of you - including you," he said, looking at his teenage counterpart, who simply arched an eyebrow."So I better not catch any of you in there or else"-

Whatever threat Kai was going to deliver was cut short by the return of Ray and Mariah with the now peaceful Rin.

"Kai! How're you doing, old friend?" greeted Ray with a wide smile. "I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to visit again so soon."

Kai simply offered him a curt nod of acknowledgement.

"Hi Kai! Long time no see! Boy, you sure did miss a lot over here today, didn't you?" said Mariah with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, Mariah." Kai looked down to smile at Rin, who was laughing and trying to reach out to him. "Hi, Rin."

"How come he's nice to Rin but not to us?" grumbled Daichi, earning an elbow from Kenny.

* * *

A bit of an abrupt ending this time.

Hope you liked it, and don't forget to rate and review, peeps!


	11. Assessing the Situation

Heyy! I'm still alive! Since you guys have been so patient, I shall waste no more of your time - Chapter 11!

Disclaimer : I do not own Beyblade

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 11: Assessing the Situation

The adults were soon discussing the situation among themselves, leaving the teens to talk.

"How long do you think it will take for us to get back?" asked Ray, clearly worried.

Kenny sighed. "I really don't know, Ray. Like our future selves said, this is going to be a complicated and time-consuming process – it may actually take several weeks…maybe months."

The others stared in horror.

"You're-you're kidding, right?" choked Tyson.

Normally, in any alarming situation, Kenny would be hysterically nervous and panicky – now, however, he was acting all dejected and somber. _Not a good sign_ , thought Tyson to himself.

"Don't worry," The consolation, surprisingly, came from Kai, who was still leaning against the wall. He turned to face them.

"They'll figure it out soon enough – remember, it's been done before and technology has advanced a lot over the years we've jumped – they said so themselves."

"Kai's right," said Max optimistically. "We'll be home in no time!"

"Yeah! So let's all hope for the best and try to enjoy our time here!" said Hilary, trying to cheer everyone up.

"Heh. How can I enjoy myself knowing that I get married to you?" grumbled Tyson. "I mean – how did that even happen? Was I drunk when I signed the marriage papers or what"-

"You JERK! I should be the one complaining – what tragedy made me marry _you_ of all people!?" exclaimed Hilary in a shrill voice, causing Max and Ray, who were standing right beside her, to wince.

"Not again, you two!" Mariah came over to them, pushing Tyson and Hilary apart before they started throwing punches at each other. "It's time you started accepting the facts!"

"But I don't even like her!" yelled Tyson angrily, not noticing Hilary's furious expression falter at his words and a glimpse of some other emotion showing in her ruby eyes.

Mariah was secretly thankful that the Hilary from her time was not present in the room at the moment, having excused herself to use the washroom.

"Hey, come on, that's not cool," said adult Tyson with a frown, only causing his teen self to huff and turn away, his arms crossed sulkily. "I really hope you don't keep up this unreasonable behaviour just because of what you're seeing here."

"I'd listen if I were you, shrimp," called the grown-up Kai in a lazy drawl from across the room, where he stood with the rest of the adults. Then, his tone turned more serious. "You should try not to let this little excursion influence you – any of you." His eyes swept across the whole group, lingering for a moment on his teen self, before he turned his gaze away.

Teen Tyson turned to gape silently at the future version of his rival, while Hilary stared at her feet, seemingly lost in thought, and the others exchanged uncomfortable looks, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Hmph, whatever," said teen Tyson finally, shoving his hands in his pockets sulkily and resolutely turning away to face the window.

...

"Here you are. I had these rooms tidied up just now - you guys are fine with sharing, aren't you? If not, I can have a few of the other spare bedrooms upstairs cleaned out too." Alex had taken the teens up to the first floor, and was showing them the spare rooms there, all completely furnished with a double bed, a large wardrobe, dressing table and armchairs.

"Seriously, how many rooms have you got in this place?" questioned Daichi incredulously.

Alex scratched her head and gave a nervous chuckle. "Honestly speaking, I haven't counted. But most of them are never used at all these days."

Ray stepped into the centre of the room they were currently looking at. "Well, I think the six of us will be able to comfortably share two a room, and Hilary can have a separate room to herself of course." He looked at his teammates for consent, and they all nodded their agreement. Each bedroom was more than spacious enough for two people, and they were all used to adjusting and sharing beds while they were on tour during the World Championships.

The boys quickly discussed the sleeping arrangements, and it was decided that Tyson would room with Kenny and Max with Daichi (Max was reluctant due to Daichi's habit of kicking, shoving and climbing onto people in his sleep, but found himself agreeing in spite of all this because of his good nature), which left Ray and Kai to share. Alex had offered Kai the use of his old bedroom, but he had declined, opting to stay in the vicinity of his friends, since he somehow felt like he would be accepting favoured treatment if he chose to stay in his own bedroom. Besides, he had shared a room with Ray on more than one occasion before, and the Chinese youth had never disturbed him or invaded his personal space, so he didn't really mind.

"Hmm...we're going to have to go out and buy some clothes and other things as well - you _will_ be here a while, after all," mused Alex, putting a hand to her cheek thoughtfully. "We can go and get some for you first thing tomorrow morning."

Hilary started protesting. "Oh, no! You don't need to go to the trouble"-

Alex waved her off. "Please. It's no trouble at all. One of my friends just opened a boutique not too far from here. We can find some good clothing for you there."

They all thanked her.

"It's really no problem, so don't worry about it," she insisted, looking slightly uncomfortable at the gratitude shown. "You can rest up for a while over here - I'll call you downstairs later for dinner."

...

The teens had assembled in the room that had been designated as Max and Daichi's.

"No fair, Maxie! Your bed is bigger than ours!" said Tyson as he flopped down onto the large bed.

"Fair enough, Ty, considering I have to share with Daichi," replied Max calmly. "No offense," he quickly added, turning to the younger boy with a friendly smile as he let out an annoyed huff.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Ray, climbing onto the covers and sitting cross-legged beside Tyson.

Tyson shrugged. "Relax?" Seeing Ray frown at him, he said, "I mean, what else _can_ we do? Max and Kenny - the other ones, that is - said they'd look into it, right? Not much else we can do other than wait for them to figure out a way back for us, since none of us have a clue as to how all this happened."

"I guess..." Ray turned away, disgruntled. He disliked not having any control over the current situation, more specifically the fact that they were pretty much powerless and dependent on others to solve their predicament - even if it was their own future counterparts. He voiced his feelings out loud. "It's just that I hate the idea of sitting around doing nothing."

"Tyson's right, Ray," said Max. "There's not much else for us to do for the time being - so I suppose we just stick around over here, let the guys from this timeline do their thing and help out if and when we can." He paused, thinking, and then added. "And like they said, it would also probably be a good idea for us to keep a low profile and avoid being identified by outsiders if we have to go out in public."

"True," said Kenny. "It could be a disaster if someone else sees us and starts snooping around or something."

"Well, in that case, if we're just careful about not showing our faces, at least we won't be stuck in here twenty four/seven," said Tyson, relieved, while Daichi immediately started bombarding Kenny with questions about disguises and fake moustaches. "Don't get me wrong or anything, Kai, but I prefer a little more freedom," he said, looking over at the older boy, who was leaning against the French doors leading to the balcony.

"Hmph." Kai simply closed his eyes and shrugged. He couldn't help but notice that while the others were eagerly discussing the situation at hand, Hilary had remained unusually quiet so far. She sat on the armrest of one of the old armchairs in the room, hands folded in her lap and seemingly rather out of it. He wondered if she was simply tired, or whether her current state of relative apathy had to do with her most recent spat with Tyson. Given her usual energy and need to comment on everything regardless of the situation, he suspected it to be the latter. He wondered momentarily if he should ask her about it, but dismissed the idea - it was probably not something she would want to discuss right now, in the presence of everyone else. Maybe the next time he caught her alone.

Tyson finally got up and announced that he was heading over to his own room to take a shower. Kenny followed him, saying he wanted to go over the data he had captured one more time. As Ray also stood and stretched lightly, Daichi took the opportunity to jump onto the bed himself, curling up into a ball in the middle of the duvet while yawning widely and closing his eyes. Ray chuckled as Max sighed and tried to shift Daichi towards one end of the bed. The raven-haired youth decided to go and try to get some shut-eye as well, and was about to ask Kai what his plans were when he realised that he was not in the room, and he was certain that he had not left through the door. He was not surprised thus, to find the French doors open; the long, thin curtains fluttering in the wind.

...

Dinner was a quiet affair, with the adult Hilary and Tyson having returned home, Ray, Mariah and Rin to the hotel they were staying at and Max and Kenny heading to their research lab with a copy of all the data collected in the laptop to get started on their work as soon as possible. Future Kai was not present at the dining table when the teens were called downstairs and Alex, though present, did not join them either, saying that they usually ate a little later, and thought it would be better if all of them ate and got to bed early today, since she was planning to take them out a bit early the next day to shop, so that they could avoid being seen by too many people and browse through the stores while they were relatively free of other customers.

The teens ate in relative silence, all rather tired by the day's bewildering events, and headed back to their own rooms for the night after finishing their meal.

...

The twelve loud and resounding chimes of the old grandfather clock in the mansion indicated that it was now midnight. The sound reached seventeen year old Kai's ears through the open window which he had climbed out of, making him aware of the hour as he sat on his perch on the roof, overlooking the expansive yet neatly kept gardens and walkways behind the house. He was dressed in a plain black t-shirt and baggy grey sweatpants, which he had found in his old cupboard. He hadn't been able to sleep - something which he had gotten fairly used to - and so had come up for some fresh air and an open view of the starry night sky and the moonlit gardens, which was also something which he had made a habit of. As he sat there, listening to the sounds of rustling leaves and chirping crickets, it almost felt completely normal. Almost.

His mind was still churning with questions. How did this happen? How would they get back? Was it even _possible_ to go back? He had understood Ray's irritation when they had been discussing what they could do. He himself liked having a good measure of control and direction in whatever he did, whatever situation he was involved in. Now it felt as if he had just been thrown for a loop, unable to get himself out of this mess without the help of others - something which was right up there on the list of things he hated the most. He liked to think of himself as self-sufficient and fairly knowledgeable - of which he felt like neither in the current situation.

He was also worried about how their families would take their disappearance. Though over the last couple of years his grandfather had got used to him vanishing for days on end without explanation, he was sure Tyson's grandfather and Max, Kenny and Hilary's parents were probably completely freaking out right now. It didn't help that it would possibly be several weeks before they made it back home, _if_ they managed to, that is.

His train of thought was interrupted when he caught a glimpse of movement below him from the corner of his eye, and carefully leaning forward over the edge of the eaves, he looked down to see someone step out onto a large balcony two storeys below him. Seeing the long hair glimmering in the moonlight, he realised that it was Alexandra.

 _So that's probably where my new room is,_ thought Kai, mentally noting the approximate location of the balcony. He remembered his older self's warning not to enter his room. _Yeah right, as if I'll just go with that quietly...even if it was_ me _who said it. I've never exactly been good at following orders,_ he thought to himself as he continued to watch Alexandra as she walked around the balcony. He could make out that she was wearing a light coloured, sleeveless nightgown and was carrying and rocking Gou, who was wrapped in a blanket and sniffling loudly. Eventually, the baby fell silent, presumably asleep. She continued to bounce him slightly, looking out over the gardens for a few seconds before turning around and heading back inside.

* * *

That's all for now, folks.

Once again, hope you are finding it enjoyable so far - please rate and review, opinions are welcome! (even if it's flak for my tardiness)

-AthenaSeiki


	12. Shopping with Alex

Hey everyone! Back with an update (finally). This one's longer than the rest, too. Thank you to all the reviewers and people following the story for your patience.

Oh, and on another note - in case anyone doesn't know - the bladebreakers are back! A new manga sequel featuring them called beyblade rising has been released! Woo hoo! The plot of the manga isn't quite the same as the anime - for instance, Hiro makes his appearance much earlier in the manga, the whole BEGA arc is anime only and a couple of other things revealed in beyblade rising and the original manga series, which may or may not be seen as minor spoilers for those who've only watched the anime (which included me too till very recently). However, since I've already started, I'll be going along primarily with what we can deduce from the anime alone.

Disclaimer: Beyblade belongs to Takao Aoki and not me. :P

* * *

A Secret To Be Told

Chapter 12: Shopping with Alex

As promised, the teens had so far behaved themselves, with Ray and Kenny reigning in Daichi's usual early morning rambunctious antics and stopping him from picking noisy fights with Tyson that were bound to get on the older Kai's nerves.

The future self of their brooding friend didn't speak a word to them at breakfast (which of course, none of them took offense at), after which he immediately left for work. Alex later informed them that he had taken over as the president of Hiwatari Enterprises after the death of his grandfather nearly three years ago. Tyson had stolen a glance at Kai then, wondering how he would react to the news of Voltaire's death, and was rather surprised to see that his expression remained completely neutral, as if he had just been told the day's weather forecast and not about the passing of one of his closest blood relatives.

Soon after breakfast, Alex received a call from Kenny, asking how everything was going, and letting them know that he and Max were in the process of analysing the energy signals - and though it was, as expected, proving complicated - they had contacted Judy, who had done a great deal of research on bit-beasts and was probably one of the best people they could ask for advice on the matter. Of course, this had necessitated them disclosing the entire situation to her. She was shocked, to say the least. However, she had immediately agreed to share all her research material, and promised to fly down to Japan as soon as possible to assist them.

The idea of getting to see his mother, of course, thrilled teen Max greatly and he was practically bouncing all over the place with excitement, till Alex told him to save his energy for their shopping trip. Which brought the G-Revolutions to the immediate job they were faced with: going to buy essentials needed for their stay in the future. And that was how they found themselves, a little before nine in the morning, outside a large boutique.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Alex, turning around when she noticed that the teens were still standing at the entrance, looking hesitant. "Come on!"

They followed her into the store rather reluctantly after she impatiently beckoned for them to enter.

"This place looks really pricey," murmured Ray as they surveyed the racks of clothing and accessories around them while tagging behind Alex.

Hilary checked out the price tag on one of the outfits being modeled by a mannequin and immediately dropped it with a tiny "Eep!", before hurrying to catch up with the boys.

"This stuff is too expensive!" She hissed at her friends under her breath. "I knew that things sold at boutiques were high end, but this is ridiculous! There's no way we can accept such clothes for free!"

"How bad can it be?" asked Daichi with a casual shrug. "Besides, isn't Kai rich?"

Hilary snatched a couple of tops off a nearby rack and shook them in the younger boy's face. "Just look at the price!"

Daichi's eyes widened as he took note of the numbers on the tags, as Tyson tried to nudge him out of the way to have a look. "Woah! That much for just one shirt!? What is it made of, gold?"

"See what I mean?" whispered Hilary fiercely, casting a quick glance towards Alex, who was a little ahead of them and seemed busy looking around. "Even if they may be able to afford this, it's absolutely unnecessary!"

Max scratched his head. "Well, why don't we just say so then?"

"Don't you think it might be a bit rude of us to ask Alex to take us to another store after taking the trouble to bring us here?" asked Kenny doubtfully. "We need to go into the city to find other shops or the malls, and she had to leave Gou at home today too."

"Yeah, but"-

"Excuse me, but as Daichi already mentioned, I have more than enough money to buy you a few sets of clothes." said Kai, who had been bringing up the rear of the group, as he came up to stand beside them.

"That's not the point, Kai!" said Hilary. "There's"-

"There's no point wasting money like this? Believe me, it's being put to better use than it was in Voltaire's time," he said, thinking about the amount of money his grandfather had wasted on pointless finery and antiques to showcase his wealth to clients and partners during business meetings, dinners and celebrations. "Even _in case_ the company's turn over isn't as much as it had been under him, it isn't like one slightly expensive shopping spree will put a dent in the family fortune."

Tyson grinned. "Now you're just bragging, buddy."

Kai scoffed. "I'm just pointing out the facts, think of that as you may."

"Oh, you're impossible," said Hilary, annoyed at being overruled and huffily putting back the clothes. "Fine, then. Since you're so sure this is okay, don't you _dare_ chastise me for buying whatever I like."

"Go right ahead."

"Hmph!" Hilary made a great show of sticking her nose in the air and walking off haughtily, much to Kai's amusement.

Meanwhile, Alex seemed to have been spotted by someone she knew, because there was a loud, excited squeal of "Lexiii!" and the next moment a blur of blue slammed into her.

"Mimi! Jeez, slow down!" Alex managed to steady herself and the young lady who had barreled into her before both of them tumbled onto the display behind them. She frowned at the woman who looked up at her as she released her from the bear hug, before a laugh escaped her. "You really need to stop jumping people like that."

The young woman, Mimi, grinned broadly as she straightened up. She was tall, with long, straight midnight blue hair and eyes of the same colour. Her professional looking business suit and skirt seemed like a bit of a mismatch with her demeanor, though.

"I'm so happy to see you!" she said excitedly, literally swinging Alex around like they were a pair of schoolgirls. "I never hear from you at all these days! How have you been? Baby Gou? Kai? All good?"

"Yes, yes. Everyone's fine," said Alex, giving her friend's forearms a squeeze as she stopped twirling her.

"Great! You should have told me you'd be coming - anyway, now that you're here, we have loads to catch up on! You just _have_ to see my latest line!"

"Um, yeah, but actually-" Alex was saved the effort as Mimi made to take her by the arm and drag her off, but stopped short when she caught sight of the group of teenagers standing awkwardly behind her friend.

"Oh...my gosh," she said, her blue eyes widening. She turned to look at Alex in complete astonishment. "What?...They look exactly..."

Alex sighed. Obviously she had gone through this too many times than she would have cared to in the past twenty four hours. "Well, yes. That's because - you know, maybe we should sit down and then talk."

...

"That's so cool! So you guys are really from the past?" Once she had gotten over her initial shock (which Kai had noticed lasted less than ten seconds after Alexandra had once again recounted the entire episode), the blue haired girl seemed to actually be quite thrilled by this turn of events. "It would have been far more exciting if they were from the future, but oh, I suppose you all must be finding this really intriguing! So how are you liking the future so far?"

"Uh... it's great, I guess?" Kenny sounded more like he was asking a question.

"Hey, Mimi, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about this," said Alexandra, fidgeting with the thin chain around her neck,. They were currently seated in Mimi's office at the back of the store - turns out she was the owner/manager.

Mimi tilted her head in question to her friend's request, and the blonde continued, "We'd rather not have any unnecessary attention, since we really don't know how all this...time travel...stuff may mess things up in both their and our timelines, so..."

"Well, if that's the case, my lips are sealed," said Mimi with a wink, holding a finger to her lips for effect. "So, Lexi, is there anything you needed my help with?"

"Yes, actually, we came here to buy some clothes for these guys," said Alexandra, nodding in the direction of the teens. "Do you have something for them?"

"Do I ever! I'm glad you asked!" The blue haired girl stood up and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Follow me!"

...

"All of the clothes I have in my boutique are inspired by the styles of people I've met so far," explained Mimi as she led the group once again through the store, which was, thankfully, still empty so far. "I was particularly fascinated by the style of the beybladers we met when we competed in the championships. They were all so unique and colourful, descriptive of their own individual personalities. Of course, that includes all of you as well!" she turned to them with a smile as they stopped at one corner of the store.

The teens were surprised by this information.

"You competed in the beyblading championships?" asked Daichi in such an incredulous tone that Hilary had to resist the urge to whack him for sounding rude.

"That's riiight!" sang Mimi. "Lexi and I were teammates!"

"Oh," the others chorused, while Kai's eyebrows rose in surprise. This was his first time hearing that Alexandra had participated in the sport.

"So, you design these clothes yourself?"asked Max.

"I'm just starting out as a designer," said Mimi. "Most of what I have here is from established brands, but all these in this section here" - She swept her hand around - "are my own designs!"

"Wow! This is _so_ my style!" exclaimed Max as he caught sight of and began examining a bright star-spangled jacket and a pair of orange cargo pants.

"I see you weren't kidding about being inspired by bladers," remarked Ray as he fingered a blue oriental style outfit with elaborate tiger motifs.

"Not at all," said Mimi with a wide grin, pleased to see that the teens had taken a liking to her clothes.

Tyson, Ray, Daichi and Max were quickly handed several sets of clothes by the two women and ushered into the changing rooms to try them out. The protests against being given so many garments were silenced when Alex pointed out that they had no other choice but to accept them unless they wanted to remain in the same outfit for the rest of their indefinite stay. Mimi then dragged Hilary away to pick out things from the rest of her store's collection, leaving Alex to browse through a small display space sporting dark jeans with heavy wallet chains and skull design belts.

"You're getting something for yourself too," she said out loud, without even looking up. Just as she guessed, Kai had been hanging around at the back, putting a few display stands between himself and the rest of the group to avoid being carted off to change along with the rest of his team.

"I don't need anything," came the flat reply.

Alex turned around to meet the seventeen year old's adamant gaze. She could tell that he just didn't want to go through the hassle of changing; it was kind of a thing with him - even now he'd often just collapse onto the bed after coming home from work without even taking off his coat.

"I know you don't, but _I_ want you to take something from here," she replied, holding up some of the garments she'd picked out. "Come on, they're nice aren't they? At least take these," she said, holding up a black tank top with a brilliant orange and red phoenix printed on the lower left hand side and a pair of grey jeans with a wallet chain and matching chain belt that seemed to be made of interlocking flame designs.

He thought the clothes looked kind of cool. Not that he would be telling her that.

"No," he said plainly, earning a pout. He figured she and his future self had had this sort of disagreement more than once - suspecting he may have even done it on purpose on a few occasions to get that reaction.

"You're impossible," she said.

"So I've been told."

The others soon returned with the clothes of their choice, and Alexandra began heading towards the cash counters to get them billed, but Mimi stopped her.

"No, no Lexi! It's all for free!"

"I seriously hope that's not what you tell all your customers."

After some arguing and persuasion, the two settled at half-price. After getting their purchases, they all bid goodbye to the blue haired woman.

"Promise you'll drop by again!" exclaimed Mimi, giving a rather startled Hilary a hug.

"They're not exactly here on vacation, you know," came Alexandra's amused reply.

Mimi giggled. "Of course not, silly! Doesn't make me want to not see them again! And you," she poked her friend. "You _have_ to come and see me at least once a week from now on, got that?"

"Sure thing, Mim," she said with a smile, giving her a hug before following the group out of the store.

"See you!"

...

"Man, it's so peaceful out here," said Max, stretching his arms over his head as he laid back in the grass. The teens had, after changing out of their old clothes and freshening up, headed out to explore the grounds around Hiwatari manor. They were currently relaxing in an open spot a fair distance behind the manor, where they had discovered a small pond.

"Yeah, we should visit Kai's place more often when we get back," said Tyson with a laugh, plopping down beside his half-American friend. The champion was dressed in a sleeveless open washed out denim jacket, a full sleeved red shirt, khaki trousers, and of course, his baseball cap.

Max was wearing a plain bottle green T-shirt along with the orange cargos he'd spotted first in the boutique. Ray, who sat cross-legged beside them was wearing a Chinese style top with red trim similar in design to what he usually wore along with black pants. He chuckled at Tyson's comment. "I'm sure Kai would _love_ that."

Kenny and Hilary walked up to them, bringing back Daichi who had been trying to pick some of the fruit from a nearby tree.

"I understand that you're used to picking fruit like this at home, but you just can't do that at someone else's place without permission, Daichi!" reprimanded Hilary. The brunette was dressed in beige shorts and a pink crop top with a short white half sleeved jacket over it. The redhead, now dressed plainly in a simple purple T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans(with both legs intact) sighed exasperatedly. "I told you I didn't know! Give it a rest already!"

Kenny shook his head slightly and sat down carefully on the grass, seemingly mindful of the new beige trousers and blue shirt he was now wearing. "By the way," he said, as he powered on his laptop. "Has anyone seen Kai?"

* * *

Once again, thank you for your patience! The next chapter will most likely be out after new year's.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

-AthenaSeiki


End file.
